I recently rewatched the The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, which is a 1996 released concert actually performed in December 1968. Various performers, including Jethro Tull, The Who, Taj Mahal, and Marianne Faithfull each perform a song. There were a few circus acts as well, including a fire eater. Then, The Dirty Mac, a supergroup put together especially for the concert featuring John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Mitch Mitchell, violinist Ivry Gitlis, and Yoko Ono did two songs, ‘Yer Blues’ and ‘Whole Lotto Yoko’. Let's just say Yoko's vocals on that second one are an acquired taste I've never managed to acquire.



The Stones then came out and performed six songs, including ‘Jumping Jack Flash’, ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want', and ‘Sympathy For the Devil’. Three of my faves. However, they sounded a little flat. The tempo isn't as upbeat as it could be, and they looked tired and unrehearsed; which they were. Some of them also looked liked they had partaken of various substances in a high dosage.

In an interview about the concert years later, Pete Townshend recalled that Brian Jones had spent the whole day crying. “Keith (Richards) was yellow from the various substances he was on. I mean, bright fucking yellow, and when he wasn't yellow he was green.” So the Stones sat on the footage for nearly thirty years, especially since The Who's performance of ‘A Quick One While He’s Away' is a top-notch show-stopper.

But what struck me the most about rewatching The Who in that concert is the range of clothes they are wearing. We remember the sixties as the height of the Hippy movement. People wearing tie-dyed shirts, headbands, braids and beads. Or maybe go-go boots and mini-skirts, like something from an Austin Powers movie flashback scene. The Beatles went all ‘cosmic’ with long hair, colourful shirts and coats, etc. What you don't expect from 1968 is the collection of outfits The Who wore that night.



Roger Daltrey looks the most 60s of the four, in his frilled tan jacket and matching pants. Rehearsal photos for that gig show Daltrey wearing another peak-60s outfit, with a colourful sash around his waist. If you were to draw a stereotypical rock singer from the period you could just sketch Daltrey and not go far wrong.



But Pete Townshend looks like he's escaped from a Donnie and Marie Osmond Show episode filming in the same building ten years later. A clean blue shirt with white pants and a white, textured waistcoat. If Daltrey is peak hippy 60s at that gig, then Townshend is peak clean-cut 70s. In fact, there's a 1978 interview with Donnie and Marie where Barbara Walters wears basically the same outfit as Townshend. (sorry for the poor quality of the screen grab).





John Entwistle, meanwhile, appears to have wandered in from a heavy metal band from the 1980s. Severe, skin-tight black and shiny, with studded armbands. Although the pudding-bowl haircut is out of place. If someone just plonked a big-hair wig on him he'd be right at home in the 80s.









Keith Moon is cosplaying and Olympic ice skater. Wearing a sparky black (possibly) one-piece rainbow-sequinned outfit that is cut wide at the neck. He looks like he would get a score of at least a 7.8 from the Russian judge. As he plays on the drumkit his outfit ripples with colour. He doesn't look like anyone else at the concert. It's a unique look, and not one you'd associate with The Who or the time.



Rehearsal pics shoe Entwistle looking like one of The Ramones. While Townshend is at one point in a knitted sleeveless cardigan reminiscent of Wallace (and Gromit). In a behind the scenes pic Kieth Moon is in ‘Swinging London’ era gear.



So what was the point of all this? Well, just my curiosity at how the idea of a time and the reality of it can differ. If you were to use The Who's outfits at this concert as a template for drawing a 60s rock group it might look a bit strange and anachronistic. But that's what they wore. Reality, in this case, is a little at odds with our shared sense of that reality.

How do you deal with the fashion of different time periods in your own comics?

— Gunwallace

__________

Don't forget! The #quackchat has moved to BlueSky! Join us on Sunday evening for our Quackchat at 5:30PM(EST)!

You can also advertise on DrunkDuck for just $2 in whichever ad spot you like! The money goes straight into running the site. Want to know more? Click this link here! Or, if you want to help us keep the lights on you can sponsor us on Patreon. Every bit helps us!

Special thanks to our patrons!!